The arrest happened in Carabobo state, in the interior of the Caribbean nation. During the operation, the CICPC seized at least four cell phones used to carry out the scam.
A gang of cryptocurrency scammers got dismantled last week in Venezuela, according to information from the scientific police, who highlighted that the criminal act took effect in the Carabobo state, in the interior of the Caribbean country.
This information got released by Douglas Rico, current director of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC), through Instagram. In his announcement, the official revealed the names of Raimer Eduardo Riera Riera (24), Óscar José González Flores (25), Eduardo José Vásquez Nieves (44) and Natalie Omaris Oliveros Blanco (36).
All the criminals got detained and placed under the Public Ministry. They got charged with forgery and fraud with crypto assets, although the official did not elaborate on the crime. The criminals, who took an active part in the criminal organization called The Cryptoactive Counterfeiters, are also current representatives of a company linked to the bitcoin ecosystem.
These criminals are all part of the Venezuelan regulatory entity, the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities also called SUNACRIP. Rico says they entered a false registration authorization to acquire capital through advice and deceiving third parties. As he specified, those detained worked through the Telegram messaging application.
According to Rico, the scammers, apparently, also have a connection to another similar event, but in the Cojedes state, also in the interior of Venezuela. The official pointed out that during the apprehension of those named, four cell phones were seized, which were used by them to defraud their victims.
This Scam is not the First Crime Related to Bitcoin in Venezuela
This case is not the only one linked to bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies. Similar events have already been spotted this year in that country, which is the seventh nation with the highest adoption of crypto assets, according to the firm Chainalysis.
In October, two subjects got captured by the CICPC for defrauding $ 133,000 through bitcoin and crypto exchange Binance. The alleged criminals are 21-year-old Leonardo Manuel Rodríguez Bolívar and 27-year-old Aaron Sinuhe Yepez Paredes, both got arrested in the Guárico state, located in the central region of the country.
In another situation, two other people got apprehended by the Cops after defrauding more than USD 130,000 on the LocalBitcoins platform. The subjects got captured in the El Paso sector, Guaicaipuro municipality, Miranda state, according to the news reported by Commissioner Rico.
In June, another case of scam got reported in various media outlets. A subject identified as José Alejandro Figueira de Abreu received charges for allegedly extracting at least 7.9 bitcoins, more than USD 300,000 at that time.
Due to the growing number of incidents related to BTC, and in addition to the presence of cryptocurrencies in that country, the general recommendation is to use regular and previously verified channels to set up trades with crypto assets, always protecting the integrity and using platforms that could bring more security guarantees.
By: Jenson Nuñez
